Bettie's Books

bookshelves: britain-england, fradio, lit-richer, london, mystery-thriller, play-dramatisation, published-1930, noir, radio-4, spring-2014, under-50-ratings, serial-killer

Classic Serial



Description: Most famous for his Hornblower series, C.S. Forester wrote three seminal psychological thrillers at the start of his career that took crime writing in a new direction, portraying ordinary, desperate people committing monstrous acts, and showing events spiralling terribly, chillingly, out of control.

Plain Murder, set in 1928, takes us into a London advertising agency. Morris, Oldroyd and Reddy, have been caught taking bribes. One of their colleagues threatens to blow the whistle on them. Instant dismissal will inevitably be the result, and at a time of severe unemployment, their future prospects are bleak. Morris, a menacing bully, offers them a road out of their dilemma - a perfect murder, cleverly disguised as a tragic accident. But is there such a thing as the perfect murder?

Music composed by Gary C. Newman
Clarinet: Samantha Baldwin
Producer/director: David Ian Neville.

Catch it here

'Isn't it a story-teller's job, like a crazed mechanic, to put a spanner in the works?' Brilliant!

4* Plain Murder
3* The African Queen
3* The Good Shepherd
3* The Gun
3.5* Payment Deferred